Parent's Day
by OakStone730
Summary: Harry and Neville retreat to the top of the Astronomy Tower during one of the monthly 'Parent's Days' at Hogwarts. Warnings: SLASH - mention of Harry/Draco relationship, but it is not the focus of the story. Eighth Year, Hogwarts


Parents Day, Hogwarts  
April, 1999

He stepped through the archway and onto the ramparts of the Astronomy tower. Neville was already there, perched on the ledge of the rampart, his long legs dangling precariously above the fifty foot drop. Wordlessly, Harry joined him, carefully climbing over the ledge. The April wind was still bitterly cold but this morning it felt good as it helped shed his annoyance at Ron.

"Ron finally give up?" Neville asked, not turning to look at Harry. They were both staring down at the steady stream of students emerging from the entrance to the castle. Some, the first years, were so excited they were running towards the carriages that were bringing their parents up to the castle. The older students were mingling on the castle steps in small groups, waiting. It was easy to spot Ron and Ginny amongst them. Ron was standing with his back resolutely turned from where he knew Harry always retreated.

"He doesn't understand." Harry said, trying to not sound bitter, "Draco gets it. I don't know why Ron can't." Draco had slipped out of their bed, and dressed carefully in formal robes for his visit with his mother. He'd bent over and kissed Harry tenderly goodbye with a murmured promise that he would be back before the game. Draco had permission to travel home on Parents Day to visit his mother who was still under house arrest. He didn't try to force Harry to come along or expect him to participate more than he did.

Harry turned to look towards the Quidditch pitch. The Slytherin and Hufflepuff banners were already raised in preparation for the afternoon match.

The idea had been introduced at the Opening Feast by Professor McGonagall. This school year, the first Saturday of each month was to be Parents Day. A chance for parents to see their children. The day was intended to reassure both parent and child that all was well. There was to be a picnic by the lake, Quidditch matches and other activities to entertain the families.

Glancing over, he could see Neville staring down at the small piece of creased paper in his hand. Neville's fingers rubbed over the worn lettering of the candy wrapper before tightly closing it back in his fist. There was no doubt that Neville understood, Harry thought as he looked at Neville's hunched shoulders that reminded him more of first-year Neville, the pudgy boy who'd endured so much abuse, than this Neville who had faced off against Voldemort.

"He can't understand, none of them truly can." Neville said as he slipped the paper back into his pocket.

"I suppose, but-" Harry broke off as the first of the carriages pulled up to the front steps. The waiting students hurried down the steps to locate their parents. They both watched as parents and their children united. Neville's lips tightened and he looked away. Harry watched as Ginny and Ron greeted Molly and Arthur and wondered why he couldn't find a way to put in words what this day felt like in a way that Ron could understand.

It wasn't that he felt sorry for himself, as Ron had accused him, or that he didn't not feel a part of the Weasleys. They had done everything to make him feel welcomed into their family, even after he and Ginny had stopped seeing each other.

The first Parents Day he had gritted his teeth and gotten through it, but it had left him with an unsettled feeling for days afterwards. The following one fell just a week after the anniversary of his parents' deaths. He had sat at the breakfast table listening to the excited chatter of everyone one at the table looking forward to the day when he'd felt Neville's hand on his shoulder. Neville had motioned with his head and Harry had followed him out of the Great Hall until they'd ended up here. And here they had sat the entire day. Neville had packed a bag of sandwiches and they hadn't come down until the last of the carriages had left.

Slowly, painfully that day Neville had talked about his few faint memories of his parents before they had been tortured, their sanity stolen from them by Voldemort's followers. "Sometimes I was so angry, why couldn't they remember. If they had loved me why couldn't they pull themselves together for their own son? Why couldn't they shake free of whatever the curse had done to them if they loved me? It was only when I was older, after I understood the Cruciatus Curse, that I realized what had happened to them, what they suffered. If they got their sanity back then they would remember all that again, and I could never wish that on them."

Neville's voice had been firm as he assured Harry that his grandmother had raised him as best she could, but she was a practical, no-nonsense sort not given to coddling. She would come for Parents Day, if he asked, but it was easier for him if she didn't. "It gives me a day to just think about them. To let me just remember and be grateful that for even how little of time we were together that once we were a real family."

It was that, Harry realized, that was why he had to be up on the tower, far removed from all of the activity of Parents Day. So that he could just think about his own parents and once again feel the love that they had showed him, before they died, and after. Neville had looked at Harry with astonishment when Harry had revealed that the first time he'd seen his parents in the Mirror of Erised, he hadn't recognized them. He'd been eleven years old and had never seen a photograph of his own parents.

Neville had nodded with understanding when Harry had described how his parents had walked with him into the Forbidden Forest to face Voldemort. "No soldier walks alone into battle, my Gran used to say," Neville said with a smile, "Gran is big into sayings."

During the last couple of months they had sat without speaking, comfortable with the silence and their own thoughts. In the afternoon they would go down and their lives would resume, Draco would seek out Harry and they would sit together in the stands and cheer, Draco would share the chocolates that his mother had given him. Neville would disappear off somewhere with Hannah, Harry didn't want to know where, but during these few hours up on the tower they were bonded like brothers.


End file.
